If you didn't know, the Dalai Lama is a Mac user. He also happens to be an advocate for an ethnic Turkish group spread throughout Eastern and Central Asia who are embroiled in a human rights battle with the Chinese government. The combination of these two factors have security firm Kaspersky Labs believing that a new backdoor exploit found on Macs is targeted specifically towards his high holiness and Uyghur people he's advocating for.

According to Kaspersky, the origin of this new malware comes from Chinese hackers, arriving in the form of a Zip file. Inside that file is an image and a piece of executable code, delivered with a message to encourage recipients (presumably political dissidents) to install the attachment. Once installed, the computer connects to a command and control server, and the malware creators are able to run commands on the hijacked machine. Obviously the internet has become a fertile breeding ground for protest, but whoever thought the Dalai Lama would be the focus of a high-tech attack? [SecureList via Ubergizmo]